


love you 3000

by sugarcoatedlies616



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-14 13:49:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20193304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarcoatedlies616/pseuds/sugarcoatedlies616
Summary: Morgan Stark grew up sorrounded by people who met and loved her dad.





	love you 3000

**Author's Note:**

> this was the first *serious* fic i ever wrote and I wrote this the day i watched endgame back in may but i've tried to correct it as much as possible, enjoy.

Morgan Stark grew up surrounded by people who met and loved her dad, she has numerous uncles and aunts thanks to the bond her dad formed with these people, she had people she counted as her siblings, such as Peter Parker, the “amazing” Spider-Man or that’s what the news channels have been calling him lately, Harley Keener, who told her the story about how he discovered his dad in his garage a hundred times and she never got tired of it, Peter and Harley had made a secret oath to be part of her life, to teach her everything Tony had taught them, from how to avoid or confront bullies to how to express affection just with your eyes, it was countless the amount of times Harley had flown from Tennessee just because she sent an “I miss u Harley <3” or the amount of times Peter would stay up late talking her through a new web design he had been thinking about.

She was sure her mom was the sweetest woman on Earth, Pepper Potts had the door of their home always open for the avengers nowadays, she would host lunches and dinners, as Tony and her had talked about doing when he finally talked and made peace with them “just imagine them wearing flannel and jeans, sat on our backyard, laughing at the same stories we’ve heard a thousand times, it’ll be good Pep” he had said one night, a specially rough one where he woke up calling for Peter, calling for him to forgive him, to hold on. Pepper eventually talked to Peter about it, it was a very emotional moment with them sat on the couch, the same couch she was sat when her husband told her he had figured out time travel.

“He loved you like a son, Peter.” Her voice was warm and tender “I didn’t understand it at first, we weren’t in amazing terms when he met you.” She chuckled at the memory “but then he told me ‘he’s special Pepper, he’s really smart but he’s also just a kid, I can’t let him on his own, not when I know I can help him.’ I thought he was just projecting, you know? Like he was so desperately trying to not be like how Howard was with him, to help this genius kid on how to use his potential.”

“To break the circle of shame.” Peter finally spoke, he choke on the tears he was fighting to not let out, “he once told me, after Washington 'I’m trying to break the circle of shame’, he said Howard never used to tell him he was doing a good job, so he went out of his way to congratulate me when I did something right.” Now he was crying, he took his sleeve up to his face to wipe out the tears.

Pepper and him became close after that, she would call him to ask how school was going, she made it very clear that they had to attend to his high school graduation and she insisted on talking to Tony’s friends at MIT, which ended up being unnecessary because Peter surprised them on his own.

The avengers came and went to her house every time they could, Steve was one of their most frequent visits, Morgan thought he was a sweet old man, he would sit on their backyard and they would spend hours on end talking about stuff, most of the time they talked about Tony, Steve told her about the time they met “I’ve never been so wrong about someone in my entire life, and I’ve been cheated on my face a handful of times Morgan, your dad had a particular gift of wearing an incredibly constructed facade, not even Nat could figure him out the first time” he would always smile bitterly at the mention of Nat, Morgan only got to meet her once, but just like her dad, everyone made sure to fill her with stories of her and by the sounds of it, she was an incredible woman. “He would push me, every time, he was one of the few people who challenged me, I can see very clearly why these days, he helped me realise so many things about myself, he was one of my dearest friends, even when we fought, he was always on my mind.”

She liked hearing about his dad, her favorite stories came from his uncle Rhodey though, every summer he would stay for a month or so, he taught her how to swim one summer, they were on the lake and she still used her floaters, he went “your mom really needs to teach you how to swim without those things, when I was your age I was a great swimmer.” He said while approaching her. Her mom was reading and lifted her head to smile and say “And why don’t you teach her oh great swimmer, tell us your secrets, show us the way.”

They both laughed and Rhodey looked at her "Do you wanna learn how to be a real swimmer Morgan? I could tell you about the time your dad and I went on spring break and he tried to surf, it was one of the few things he was actually terrible at.” His eyes were shining and Morgan didn’t know if it was at the memories or at the sun’s reflection on the water, probably both.

“Yes uncle Rhodey.” She was 7 at the time, but she already knew she could melt that man’s heart every time she called him uncle, and as a matter of fact, his smile grew bigger on his face.

“All right then, come here, let me take those things off you.”

He told her about when they first met at MIT, how Tony was just a wannabe 14 year old who made it seem like he owned the world but was actually scared of pretty much everything “I walked into our room that first day, they told me I would have a little genius for a roommate but a wasn’t expecting Tony freaking Stark to be taking nap on my bed when I first walked in.”

“You know I’m a big brother, so I knew I would have to kind of babysit your dad, partly because I was scared shitless-’”

“RHODEY!”

“Crap, sorry Pep! Anyway I was scared something happened to Howard Stark’s son while he was living with me and like most people when they got to know him, I grew really fond of him really quickly. He would act al snarky and petty at first until one day we had our first fight and I must sound like your mom right now but yeah our first fight and I remember telling him 'aren’t you tired of being alone? Of pushing people away? Because I’m pretty sure you didn’t have that many friends at your fancy school.’, he went silent, and your father hardly ever shut up but he went silent then, we went to sleep but in the middle of the night he sneaked into my bed and told me he was sorry and that yes, he was tired of being alone, we started having a better relationship since then, I would cook for the both of us until he finally learnt how to use the oven, don’t let anyone trick you, your dad knew his way around the kitchen, he just let everyone think he would be able to burn water if he came near it.” He chuckled.

Morgan loved learning about his dad, and as she grew up, she discovered she loved learning from him, on her 16th birthday, pepper finally let her have full use of Tony’s stuff, his tools, his research, the videos J.A.R.V.I.S and F.R.I.D.A.Y had recorded of him through the years had not only helped her with her work but also let her meet his dad not from anyone else’s perspective, but from his own. His dad would record himself while trying his ironman suits, the first ever recording of this was from 2008, a couple weeks after he got back from Afghanistan (a story her mom and uncle Rhodey decided she wasn’t ready for), she got to see her dad trying and failing, she got to see how goofy he got while working, how he liked to listen to music while he worked, how he would talk to his bots and his A.I for hours on end. She would lie if she said it hadn’t been hard, hearing all those stories about him, how the entire world, the entire galaxy, was in debt with him for what he did to save them, to defeat that mad Titan she used to have nightmares about. There was a time where she had been incredibly angry at this, angry at him for being gone, for not taking her to school or preparing breakfast like all the other dads at her school did, for not being there when she got her heart broken for the first time in middle school (even though every single avenger was read to throw their hands on the poor kid), for not being there because she missed him. She could count the times she played the video where he was saying goodbye, where he told them he decided to go on this crazy journey to save the Galaxy, she hadn’t understand it as a kid, her dad was going to save the day, but everyone was crying and wearing black, it didn’t seem right and as she grew, she damned Thanos every day, she damned him for taking his dad away from her, for taking Nat, who she would have loved to call aunty Nat, for making her mom mourn in silence for months because she didn’t want her to see her like that, she was just angry, at Thanos, at her dad, at herself.

That’s when she decided she would let out all her frustrations out in the garage, she even got to fix her dad’s old cars, Pepper could feel her breath get stuck when she first appeared from the garage at 10 a.m with her hands and face covered in grease, wearing one of Tony’s tank tops and asking for a cup of coffee, it was as if he never left.

She started getting more and more into math, science and robotics, she begged her mom for months until she finally let her go for a few days to Wakanda, where both King T'Challa and Princess Shuri were waiting for her with open arms, King T'Challa would also visit her from time to time, being a King certainly affected the amount of time he could spend on visits but he always made sure to send gifts for Christmas and birthdays. Princess Shuri was her ultimate role model, she was insanely smart and creative, it seemed like her only limit was her imagination, she ended up staying not more than a few weeks, they worked on a project Morgan couldn't get sleep from, something she was not ready to let anyone, not even Princess Shuri know just yet.

Back at home, she kept working, she would often call Peter and Harley or even Shuri (as she insisted on being called) to help her crack codes, solve equations, but she never told them what she was working on. Pepper tried not to worry so much as she already had enough stress managing Stark Industries so one night she called her for dinner and they talked.

“So, I know you don’t want to talk about what you’re working on yet and let me tell you, that’s so much like your father but I’m starting to get a little worried.”

Morgan shrugged “You shouldn’t, mom, I swear I’m not making a murderous robot or anything like that. I doubt Shuri would want to help me with any of that.” She tried to joke, but the look on her mom’s face told her it didn’t work.

“Mom, I’m telling you, I can’t tell you about it yet, but what I’m doing is a good thing, I’m sure you will love it.” She tried to assure her, she reached out on the table and took her hand “I love you, you know that, right?”

Pepper factions softened “Of course I know, I’m just worried about you, you spend so much time in the garage, Thor called me today, says you haven't been calling them back.”

“Shit, I knew I was forgetting something.” she cursed.  
“Morgan!”

“Sorry! I’ll call them tomorrow, I promise, it’s been a while since they’ve come here for lunch, don’t you think?”

“Well, yeah. You know they’re on space most of the time and when they’re not, they’re fighting some colorful alien somewhere.”

“Yeah, sounds like they have fun.” She knew the look her mom gave her and she just smiled, she’s been trying to convince her to let her join the Avengers for almost a year now, her mom wasn’t a big fan of the idea.

Pepper looked at her for a couple more minutes before sighing “Just please Morgan, please be careful.” She was serious now but also tired, her mom was on her late fifties and her grey hair and tired eyes made Morgan feel a little guilty because she knew this was hard for her.

“I promise, mom. You should go to bed, you look tired.”

“And you should too, but I’m not having that conversation with you again, and please, don’t skip meals tomorrow, OK? I have to leave to New York and I can’t be calling you to make sure you’re feeding yourself like a child.” She smiled knowingly while standing from her seat and separating their hands, she came up to her and kissed her forehead, “Sleep a couple of hours at least, OK?”

“Yes, mom. Love you.”

Pepper was walking towards the stairs when she said “Love you 3000, Morgan.”

She definitely didn’t sleep that night, she was the closest she’s been for months to finish her project, a month ago she convinced her mom to let her install F.R.I.D.A.Y in the garage, now she would ask the A.I for help instead of her “siblings” or Shuri, which only led to them being worried now, she was so caught up on her work she had stopped calling Peter and Harley at all, she more often than not forgot to grab lunch until one day her uncle Happy appeared with a mini refrigerator “I’m not going to go through this again, you’ll have this in the garage and you will eat and drink, understood Stark?” He had said.

After several months of hard work, she was doing her final testings, checking the code every minute to see how it reacted, how unstable it was until it wasn’t anymore, everything was where it was supposed to be, her hands were sweaty and shaking, her breath was coming out unsteady but fast.

“I can feel your heart rates are increasing, do I need to call Mrs. Stark?” Said F.R.I.D.A.Y. 

“What? No, no. Don’t call mom, I’m ok, just a little nervous.”

“Maybe we should let this for tomorrow, it’s nearly 4 a.m, boss.”

“And miss the grand reveal? Do it now F.R.I.D.A.Y, let’s see if all of this was for a reason.” 

“Project 'love you 3000’ starting now.”

The room was filled with silence for about a minute, Morgan kept her eyes on her screen, checking the progress when a voice called for her.

“Hello? Is anyone home?” It was a calm voice, the voice she used to hear every night before going to bed as a child, his voice.

She jumped from her seat and contemplated the hologram in front of her, it was him, his dad, or well, an A.I version of him, who was standing right in front of her in a suit with sunglasses on.

“Oh, hi Morgan.” He greeted her with a smile, it seemed so painfully real a tear rolled down her cheek.

“Hi, dad.”


End file.
